Gareth Hanna

The former Cayman Islands international has been in top form for the club and producing another top drawer save during Saturday’s 3-1 victory in Portstewart.

Murphy has caught the affection of the club’s supporters since joining in the summer and Watson was keen to hail the stopper’s recent performances.

“Right on the half-time whistle, Portstewart got a free-kick on the edge of the box and it was struck well towards the top corner but of course Tuda got across and tipped it over the bar, as only he can do,” said Watson.

“Tuda’s handling when coming for crosses was fantastic as well. He’s been a great boost to us this season and I think he’s really enjoying being at the club as well.

“He’s not taking his goal-kicks but for us, that’s not a problem because we have other boys who are doing that and it allows Tuda to focus on the other areas of his game, which have all been fantastic.

“Even if there was a wee negative impact with it, the positives of the rest of his game far outweigh that.”

The victory sends Town into fifth place in the table but they are still far from safe, still only six points clear of the relegation-threatened bottom five having played more games than every team below them.

“It was another vital win for us,” he said.

“We needed to back up the Limavady result and going away to a team below us in the table, we wanted to do that on Saturday. It was just as important a game as Limavady and it was great to see the boys performing to get the win.

“Conditions always play a huge part up there and they affected us in the first half. We were playing into the swirling wind and rain and it was difficult.

“We managed to hold them out until half time which was good. We knew we would be able to create chance in the second half and we did that right from kick-off.

“They scored against the run of play but after that, we picked it up again and kept driving at them. There was no panic from the lads. We knew we were on top. Maybe their goal spark an even bigger reaction but it was great to see the reaction of the lads. We have cool, calm heads there and we know we have the players there to come back from things like that.”